America, like Canada, does not have roots that go all the way back to Chaucer, if that’s what you mean; they are inclined to shoot before asking questions, too.

There’s a bunch of things I do not like about Americans, but you know I am not inclined to babble on and on, so we’ll just leave it there. In other words, let’s avoid politics.

On the other hand, she wore the other glove….????

On the other hand, I have found many Americans I do like and who are less backward, immature and blinkered than, say I am.

Honestly, I would truly appreciate hearing your opinion on the work and publications of White Crane, a gay cyberspace community with an impressive Board of Directors and casually world-wise moderators from Washington and NYC.

It is easy to find the website by searching for ‘Gay Wisdom’, then there’s a bit of exploring to do, which is interesting, before arriving at Bo Young’s and Dan Vera’s conversational style of writing.

But (I hate starting a sentence with ‘but’), if we really want a profound insight into Gay America today, as opposed to the days of Walt Whitman and Nathaniel Hawthorn, we need look no further than Robert Aldrich and Garry Wotherspoon’s ‘Who’s Who in Contemporary Gay & Lesbian History’, from the Routledge Who’s Who Series published in London and New York.

But, but, but…. and I promise to shut up soon, it occurs to me that the GB-New England-Canada triangle is at work here and there is no American around to speak up for America, is there? Is that fair?

I can barely defend the overly-courteous (apathetic) Canadians, get the picture?

Rather than second-guess you, it would be to our advantage if you could elaborate on your second sentence :0)

I see what you mean, of course. Let’s say David Hyde Pierce had kept his TV personna, I could just hear him say: ‘Isn’t it stange how the government has a way of poking its nose in our private lives?’. And that’s California.

So that is what you meant when you said America will be hanging on by its teeth way after the others. I see where you’re coming from.

Political Science has never been my forte; I prefer gourmet cooking and the jazz guitar of Earl Klugh, Bob James.. together if possible.

Using the proverbial ‘but’, I have the distinct impression it was a rough stretch of road here in Canada as well.

In the first place, it is true that generally speaking, we do have the British legal system here. In the province of Québec, however, I believe they follow the Napoleonic Code or a mixture of the two or whatever. Québec, we all know, is a distinct society and has a beautiful and rich cultural life if you want to see it that way. On the whole I like Québec, I just can’t stand my sister-in-law (my older brother married and lives in the Laurentians, north of Montréal). She can out-ramble me, need I say more?

Here in Canada, if memory serves me well, it was the federal employees who were first granted same-sex benefits, especially at the level of federal pensions. A friend of mine (well, we wrote back & forth once or twice) David Adkin, from Toronto, produced and directed a documentary on Jim Egan, a pioneer of gay rights here. His name & bio are in Who’s Who….

Then, the Churches got involved and stirred things up (you should have seen the subtle propaganda in the church pews), it wasn’t always pretty, and the laws started to change gradually from one province to another until just last year, Alberta, was the last to legalize same-sex marriage.

My point being that it wasn’t a sudden thing from coast to coast. Every province, like every State, had to go through its baby steps. The States are different as you say because they can and do amend so much each in a different direction. Am I anywhere near right?

What are you carrying on about at your post 9? You wanna I shoulda looka ata website? Hokay, hokay. It better not have a tracking cookie. Did you check out ‘Gay Wisdom’? I knew you wouldn’t:0)

So I wonder if David Hyde Pierce et son mari ont l’intention de vivre en Californie.

Are you calling me a lawyer? That’s one social level up from real estate agents and paedophiles. I can do without the insults :o)

I wasn’t referring to Canadian politics per se, more that the US probably has the most fragmented, fucked-up set of statutes of any country in the world where you can commit a crime in one state, run across the border, and they have to resort to almost extradition proceedings to get you back.

State laws ar pointless, tiresome and completely unnecessary. All the governors need to get together and thrash out one federal rulebook that they all agree with and be done with it.

Lawyers have been part of my life, that is my partner and I, for some time. You can’t buy a house without one, there’s always some damn thing to settle, and my partner, who is (was) into business administration, could and should have been a lawyer. He was into banking instead.

For example, Jean Guy enjoys every word of the small print. It’s fascinating to watch him read a legal document. I know a few lawyers; they tell me it can be tedious work, especially since they are now a dime a dozen. It remains in my mind a profession. It wasn’t meant as an insult. I know you’re just joshing. We have obviously had different experiences with lawyers.

Fact is, you are an educated man, and I am curious about you; am trying to get to know you better. Unlike me, you hold your cards close to your chest. Even this is too personal a conversation for a thread, right. You have to be who you are; and me, me. As I’ve gotten older, I enjoy the freedom of hiding nothing. Who cares!

As for the States, I have never been up to cracking a book open about their history or their politics. I have the books, now the Internet, but I just don’t have the interest. Except for the history of American cinema and Literature, I would just as soon read about Timbuktoo. Don’t know why. I suspect it has to do with the footage I saw of the war in Viet Nam at the time. Revolting. Then the Nixon thing. Barf.

I’ve been to New York, loved it, but not enough to go back. And to Chicago which I like better. You can easily follow the three stages of highrise architecture there; there’s a beach right downtown, etc. I was supposed to go to the Pride Parade in San Francisco at the end of June, but I like it better here. Even in England, there must be people who prefer country living and an occasional trip to a city.

Bottom line is I can’t argue with you about State laws, probably could learn something from you about it.

As for Americans being backward, immature and blinkered (strange word), I checked out the web site you suggested. Hilarious.

We have a group of comedians here on a CBC-TV show called ‘This Hour Has 22 Minutes’ (because of the commercials), who have a similar routine. They go down to the States with a camera crew and do the exact same thing with identical results. Incredibly stupid answers. I have been on stage (folk dancing, would you believe!), but I have never had a TV camera in my face unexpectedly. I wonder what kind of foolishness I would come out with. It’s a fact that a TV camera in your face creates a complete blank in your mind.

Rob, if you would care to correspond, I could ask Ben Cohen to give you my e-mail address, no problem. You don’t have to. I enjoy writing, and I do have the time. In any case, don’t be a stranger.

Still, keep www dot gaywisdom dot org in mind. A lot of interesting stuff, most of the time. Maybe too serious for you right now.

To give this post some relevance, I thought the decor of Fraiser’s Seattle apartment every bit to my liking. It was spacious and I liked to see the way David Hyde Pierce moved around in it, always googling the British actress who, by the way, started her career as a dancer in the Finale of Monty Python’s ‘Meaning of Life, Part 1′.

It’s 8:57 Sunday morning here. I am always confised by the timing of the posts on these threads, aren’t you.

I live in America, specifically Minneapolis MN and it’s very possible that most states in the union will have legalized gay marriage within ten years. Right now America is caught in an end of an era; the cold war has been over for a while but the religious right in this country is deeply ingrained, fearful, and pissed off. Fortunately the baby boomer generation no longer holds the same voter majority it had before and a much more liberal generation is going to start to take over. America, as our history has proven, is slow to change and even slower at admitting mistakes and making amends, but we’re getting there.